The Ministry of Public Health and Population (MSPP) will soon conduct a test vaccination against cholera on a hundred subjects from a slum in Port-au-Prince and a rural community in the center of the country, where the disease was first identified in October 2010, according to information obtained by AFP from Dr. Gabriel Timothé, Director General of the Ministry of Health of Haiti.

The vaccine Shanchol will be administered orally to patients, in two doses. The vaccine approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) will not replace awareness among the population said Dr. Timothé.

There are 3 brands of vaccine against cholera in the world: Dukoral ($40 per dose) is manufactured in Sweden and approved by the WHO, Shanchol, now approved by WHO, ($6 per dose - $1,00 per dose with sufficient demand) is produced by Shantha Biotechnics in India and the Morc VAX-VaBiotech is produced in Vietnam.

International Vaccine Institute scientists developed this vaccine, with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Government of Korea, and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), by significantly modifying a vaccine used and produced only in Vietnam so that it meets international Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) standards and WHO production guidelines.

The trial in Calcutta (India), which enrolled nearly 70,000 people, has shown that the vaccine provides 67% protection for at least two years in this highly-endemic population.